1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for laying balls of stranded material, for example thread or yarn into the cups of a conveyor belt, which balls are brought into a position above the cups by pivotable arms and are inserted into the cups by take-off members mounted on an operating linkage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In one known apparatus of this kind (United Kingdom Pat. Specification No. 1,396,468) the take-off members are in the form of relatively long, cantilevered rods which have free ends which are bent over and serve as stops against which the rear end of the ball, lifted by the pivotable arm to a position above the cups of the conveyor belt, bears when the arm returns to its starting position and a ball-holding device on the arm is stripped off the ball. Since these cantilevered rods must extend over the whole length of the ball they may become bent, so that their operation may be impaired. A more important factor is that they do not hold the ball sufficiently firmly when the ball is inserted into the cup, so that the balls are inserted irregularly into the cups. This is a disadvantage if the balls are then delivered from the cups to a packing machine, because of alignment necessary for the packing of the balls is not ensured.
it is a main object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for laying balls of stranded material in the cups of a conveyor belt in such a manner that the balls are always inserted into the cups in exactly the same position, so that they can then be fed to a packing station with a required alignment.